Is Ekiti Election Result a True of Reflection of What Voters Wanted? Yiaga Africa Releases Findings

• Yiaga Africa has released its findings during the just concluded governorship election in Ekiti state
• According to the election observers, the result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is consistent with its estimate
• Recall that the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Biodun Oyebanji, has been declared winner of the governorship poll by INEC

Following the conclusion of the June 2022 governorship election in Ekiti state, Yiaga Africa has released its findings during the recently concluded exercise.

According to the Yiaga, INEC official results for the governorship election is consistent with its estimate.

The Election observer group said had the official results been changed at the ward, LGA or state collation centres, the official results would not have fallen within its estimated ranges.

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Ekiti Polls: INEC official results are consistent, says Yiaga Africa

It said:

"Because the official results fall within the estimated ranges, candidates, parties, and voters should have confidence the official results for the Ekiti 2022 gubernatorial election reflect the ballots cast at polling units on Saturday, June 18."

Also, Yiaga Africa releases key findings during the election day.

1. Yiaga Africa’s WTV observers monitored accreditation, voting and counting at polling units in all 16 LGAs. Yiaga Africa received and confirmed 29 critical incidents. The following are key observations on election day processes.
2. Yiaga Africa WTV observed the early arrival of polling officials and materials at polling units across the state. As of 7:30 am, Yiaga Africa WTV observers reported that INEC officials had arrived at 75% of polling units.
3. Early Start of Polls: By 8:30 am, 23% of polling units had commenced accreditation and voting. This, however, increased to 99% by 10:30 am. This is consistent with Yiaga Africa’s observation findings in the 2018 elections, where officials had arrived at 78% of polling units by 7:30 am and 91% of polling units opened by 9:00 am.
4. Deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS). The Functionality of the BVAS: Yiaga Africa observed the deployment of the BVAS to all polling units. In 92% of polling units, the BVAS functioned properly. However, in 8% of polling units, the BVAS malfunctioned and it was fixed.
5. In 96% of polling units, the BVAS had zero records for the total number of accredited voters on the BVAS before the commencement of the process.
6. In 34% of polling units, some voters were refused accreditation because the BVAS did not verify their PVC or authenticate their fingerprints or facial biometrics.
7. Deployment of polling officials and women representation: 96% of polling units had more than three polling officials present, and 55% of polling units had at least two female polling officials present while 40% of the presiding officers were women. Yiaga Africa notes that some polling units with high numbers of registered voters had more than 4 polling officials.
8. Deployment of Party Agents: All Progressives Congress (APC) polling or party agents were seen at 100% of polling units, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were seen at 98% of polling units and Social Democratic Party (SDP) polling agents were seen at 98% of polling units.
9. Deployment of security personnel: Security forces were observed at 99% of polling units. In 90% of the polling units, they were professional and non-partisan.
10. Deployment of Assistive Materials and Set up of Polling Unit: The Braille ballot guides were observed in 61% of polling units, the poster with written instructions on how to vote was seen in 66% of polling units and form EC 40H (PWD voter information and statistics) was seen in 76% of polling units.

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What we observed during Ekiti election - Persons with disability group

Critical Incidents Reports

1. Voter Inducement/Bribery
2. Polling Unit Not Opened
3. Secrecy of the Ballot Compromised
4. Voters' Names Not Found on the BVAS
5. Ballot Box Snatching:
6. Failure of Polling Officials to Use BVAS for Accreditation
7. Suspension of Counting

Three major reasons why APC won Ekiti governorship election

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has finally declared Biodun Oyebanji of the All Progressives Congress winner of the 2022 Ekiti governorship election.

Oyebanji polled a total of 187,057 votes to defeat his two closest challengers – Segun Oni of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Bisi Kolawole of the People’s Democratic Party.

The SDP emerged in second place with total votes of 82,211 while the PDP was third with 67,457 votes.

Source: Legit.ng